


and that's when i knew

by xxprincessxx



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22281598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxprincessxx/pseuds/xxprincessxx
Summary: Ricky willing to do anything for Nini, even if that means pretending to be her boyfriend.(or a fake dating au)
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 19
Kudos: 243





	and that's when i knew

Nini closes her locker, seeing EJ approaching her from down the hall. She sneaks into the closest classroom to avoid having to talk to him, yet again. Since the beginning of sophomore year, EJ has been chatting up Nini all too much for her liking.

She first met EJ Caswell during the winter play last year where she had played a tree. They hadn’t really had a proper conversation until this year, seeing as he was playing one of the leads, and she was, well, a tree. Also, that he’s a year older, and is essentially known as Mr. Heart Throb among her class. At first it was just small talk, like ‘how was your summer’ and ‘how is school.’ But now, whenever he tries to talk to her, he would make certain gestures that elicit some warning signals to Nini. Things such as, moving closer to her, to ‘hear her better’ and looking down at her with these eyes she supposes is meant to be endearing but is actually rather quite creepy. Once she caught on to his intentions, she’s been avoiding EJ as much as possible, not wanting to be in an uncomfortable position.

After waiting a few minutes, to guarantee that EJ has at least made it out of the school, she leaves the classroom and just as she does she immediately feels someone tap her on the shoulder. Nearly jumping out of her own skin she turns around, realizing it’s not EJ, but her best friend, Ricky. He was leaning against the wall, as if he was merely waiting for her.

She smacks his shoulder, “Fuck, you scared the crap out of me,” he flinches away from her when he sees her hand come up again to smack him once more for good measure, she continues, “How long have you been waiting there? I thought you were EJ.” Ricky looks down at her smiling, “I saw you sneak in, wanted to scare you a little. But you know, you can’t avoid EJ forever.”

They start heading towards the main doors, “I know, I’m just avoiding him until I have a better plan.” She says, pushing the door open with Ricky close behind her. Next thing she knows, EJ is standing right outside the door. I guess he was waiting for her outside, since he probably saw her hide in that classroom and didn’t want to seem too creepy following her in. Nini really thought she had more time to come up with some sort of plan. She hears Ricky barely above a whisper, so EJ doesn’t hear, “the plan?” he snickers behind her.

She rolls her eyes, knowing he thought his joke was hilarious.

“Hey Nini, I thought I saw you earlier! How’s your day been?” he asked her, acting like Ricky wasn’t standing right behind her, like he was invisible or something.

“Uhm…not too bad.” Not wanting to talk about her, she decides to introduce the pair, she hooks her arm through Ricky’s and pulls him forward, “Oh, I almost forgot, EJ this is Ricky. Ricky, EJ.” She introduces the pair.

Ricky sticks his hand out for EJ to shake, however EJ didn’t seem too thrilled about him being there. He shakes Ricky’s hand reluctantly, the pair giving each other a strange look. “Well, we should be heading home, see you around EJ!” she says with a fake smile plastered on her face.

Her arm still locked around Ricky’s, she pulls him into the direction of his car. Ricky is the first to speak, “that was something” he says feeling the need to comment on the awkward interaction, “he didn’t seem so happy that you were with me though” he laughs, shaking his head.

An idea instantly pops into her head, knowing it’s the perfect plan to get EJ off her back, she beams up at Ricky pulling at the sleeve of his hoodie aggressively to get his attention, “Ricky,” she says with the biggest eyes smile and with her puppy dog eyes, Ricky knowing she’s going to be asking for a huge favour, and she knows he can’t say no when she pulls that face. Given the conversation topic, he has a general idea as to what she’s about to ask.

“No.” he says firmly, looking away from her before he could cave.

“But Ricky,” she begs, still pulling at his sweater so he couldn’t walk away, “please, you’ll be my best friend”

“I’m already your best friend.” He reminds her.

“Okay, fine, how about this? I will allow you to choose everything that we do, from the movies we watch to where we’re eating, during the timespan that you pretend to be my boyfriend so EJ will leave me alone.” She offers. Ricky knows it’s a great offer not to pass up, and Nini knows this too. Nini usually likes to be the one choosing everything, not to be controlling, but Ricky just doesn’t care as much of what they do, unlike Nini. And he knows this idea will make her happy and what kind of best friend would he be if he allowed some guy to make her feel uncomfortable.

“What would I have to do?”

-

Later that evening, Ricky had gone over to Nini’s, opting to stay the night, so they could come up with some sort of game plan for the coming week, and to figure out how everything is going to work.

As agreed upon earlier, Ricky gets to decide on the movie that they would be watching, and he had settled on the Maze Runner, even though they’ve seen it a handful of times. Allowing them to talk throughout the movie. Ricky taking a seat next to Nini on her bed after setting up the movie. Nini comes in closer to Ricky, so she can take a selfie with him to post. She opens up her snapchat, Ricky puts his arm around her, pulling her in even more, and he presses his lips against her temple, she smiles brightly, capturing the photo. She decides to caption it ‘my boy finally gets to decide on the movie’ posting it to her story. Hoping it wasn’t too obvious, wanting to start a gradual introduction to their ‘relationship.’

He looks at the photo, asking her to save it and send it to him. She does as she was told, and throws her phone onto the side table, sighing in defeat. She leans her head on his shoulder her eyes fixed back on the movie, “do you think this a good idea?”

“It’s worth a shot, better than having no plan at all, right?” he looks down at her to make sure she’s doing alright, squeezing her shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She mumbles, wrapping her arms around him to hug him, “thank you, Ricky.”

He wraps his other arm around her, hugging her tightly, “Anything for you baby.”

“Baby?” she cringed, looking up at him with a questioning look on her face. Ricky laughs squeezing her once more before letting go, leaving one arm around her shoulder, “we’re dating now, I think it’s appropriate.” She couldn’t help but laugh at his ridiculousness.

“Fine, then I’m calling you love.” She beams up at him. Secretly been loving the way the term sounds rolling off her tongue, and has always wanted to call someone that. He looks at her with curiosity, but knew not to question her.

Nini’s phone starts beeping, indicating a number of incoming texts, she picks up her phone from the side table. Seeing that most of the notifications are coming from the main group chat with all of their friends. Most of them consisting of questions about her snapchat story and if everyone had seen it or not. They all seemed to be freaking out over it. She forgot that this plan would have some repercussions, especially with their friends at school. She turns to Ricky to see him so focused on the movie, realizing he probably hasn’t seen any of the messages, she nudges him and shows the messages from their friends, “We shouldn’t tell them, right? The less people that know, the better.”

He sighs, “I hate to agree with you, but yeah. Just tell them we’ll fill them in on Monday.” She nods, going back to her phone to send the message, and putting the chat on Do Not Disturb.

Deciding to change her home screen to a photo of her and Ricky. She sits up pulling her legs into her chest, focusing on finding the right photo. After scrolling through the hundreds of photos they have together, she chose one from a few weeks back. It was them after one of his skating competitions where he had won first place, they were headed to their favourite diner in town, called Rosie’s, with the rest of their friends. Nini had ran up behind Ricky and hugged him, he was looking down at her, both of them smiling brightly at one another because of his successful night. She was so proud of him. Carlos had been the one to capture the moment, sending it to their group chat declaring them as #goals.

After setting it up as her home screen, she finally put her phone down to focus back in on the movie, realizing that half of the movie had already passed. She leans into Ricky, resting most of her weight into his side, getting more comfortable, as he moves his arm to wrap back around her. Stealing some of the forgotten popcorn they were originally sharing that somehow ended up on Ricky’s other side.

Once the movie finished, Ricky had gotten up to turn off the TV. He took his seat once more, instead of propping himself up against the headboard, he sits cross-legged in front of Nini. She shoots him a questioning look, curious as to his behaviour, Ricky looks at her like he’s going to ask her the most serious question, at least that’s what Nini had thought, until he opened his mouth and said, “do you want to go get a milkshake?”

Nini couldn’t help but laugh at his silly antics, she checks the time, 9PM it read, “as long as you drive.” She says getting up, pulling on one of Ricky’s hoodies, that he keeps at her house, over her head. Looking back to him seeing that he’s still sitting on her bed, “ready to go?”

-

Ricky and Nini were sitting in Rosie’s diner, Ricky had gotten a chocolate shake, Nini a Cookies n’ Cream one, with a side of fries for them to share, their regular. The pair have been going to Rosie’s since they were about twelve years old. Nini taking her bike over, and Ricky riding alongside her on his skateboard, until they were old enough to start driving. Many, if not all, of the workers there know them, barely needing to ask what their order is anymore. Normally whenever they come in, they are seated in the same booth, two booths from the back on the right side, furthest from the kitchen, with the server asking them how they’ve been, and if they’ll have their ‘usual’ which on most nights they nod in agreement to.

Ricky and Nini were aimlessly chattering when Ricky’s phone had lit up, notifying him he got a text, when Nini had looked down she noticed his lock screen was no longer the photo Carlos had taken of him doing a kick flip. Instead, the photo she had taken earlier for her story was graced upon his screen. “Is that why you wanted me to send you the photo?” she asked him.

He nods, “We’re cute.”

Nini giggles and hums in agreement, looking over Ricky’s shoulder she sees a few people trickling into the diner. Nini wouldn’t have paid much attention to this, however, the people that walked in was what had caught her attention. It was a few of their friends, and they’ve been avoiding their incoming text messages for most of the evening. Realizing now, Nini probably should have at least checked the group chat to make sure they wouldn’t have been seen before Monday.

She nudges Ricky’s foot, taking his attention away from his milkshake, looking up at her with a questioning look. Her eyes divert to the group that hasn’t noticed them yet, making Ricky turn around to see what she was looking at. He curses under his breath, the pair not ready to face any pressing questions. Nini quickly leans over and whispers, “we’ll just say we’ll tell them on Monday so we can fill in everyone at once.”

“Good plan, at least then we can come up with some kind of backstory.” Ricky responds, leaning back into the seat. In an attempt to act casual, he begins talking about this new skateboard trick he’s learning, when all of a sudden Carlos was taking a seat next to Nini, with Gina and Kourtney on his tail. The girls waving at them, greeting them with hi’s and hello’s.

In replacement of a greeting, Carlos basically interrogates, “Well, what do we have here?”

Nini looks at Ricky, silently asking him to save her, Ricky pipes up, “Nothing, as we said, we will talk on Monday. Now, if you don’t mind, we were having a lovely evening, before the gossip train had pulled in.”

The trio’s faces all looking shocked and slightly annoyed, “Gossip train? Who do you think you’re talking to?” Kourtney exclaims, pulling Carlos out of the booth.

Ricky just shrugs and looks back at Nini who is trying to hold back her laughter, covering her mouth with both of her hands. When she looks back at Ricky he simply winks.

Gina ushering the two she had walked in with to the other end of the diner, leaving the pair alone. Insisting that even though they don’t know what’s going on right now, they should at least give them some space. Before leaving, Gina comments, “Nice sweater,” with a wink, causing Nini’s face to go bright red.

The pair knowing that their friends are watching them from across the diner. Ricky leans a little closer to Nini, “Guess it’s show time,” grabbing one of her hands, playing with her fingers as they mindlessly chatted. Until Nini had brought up a good question a little quieter, just to make sure their friends don’t pick up on their conversation, “what’s our story? We can’t just suddenly start dating out of nowhere, it’s a little suspicious for our friends at least, we should make it believable.”

Ricky hums in agreement, “well, we could say we just had a moment, that’s when we decided to try the whole dating thing out, and we didn’t tell them because we wanted to make sure it was the real thing.”

Nini nods, “Oh! It could, after that Twenty-One Pilots concert we went to. You were dropping me home and there was a moment that we both just knew.” She suggests, “no need to go into detail, because we’ll say it’s our moment, no one else’s.”

Ricky smiles, remembering that night. Unknowingly to each other, they had both felt that moment she was talking about. Ricky was driving them home, and they were simply just reliving the concert they had just watched, talking about their favourite parts, with the setlist playing in the background. When they pulled up in front of Nini’s house, he walked her to her door. He remembers saying good night to her, hugging her and kissing her forehead quickly, they didn’t pull back completely right away, looking and holding each other more than friends should. They don’t know who started leaning in first, but before anything could happen there was a loud beeping noise, someone locking their car, causing the pair to abruptly jump back and pull away, coming back to reality. Nini clears her throat, turning around to unlock her door, bidding Ricky a brief good night once more. Putting that almost moment to the back burner, neither of them mentioning it again, pretending that it never happened. Sticking as close to the truth is better, he supposes.

Realizing its nearing 11pm, finishing up his milkshake, “Ready to get out of here?” he asks, while putting his hand up to ask for the bill. The waitress brings over the bill, Ricky pulling out a twenty, much to Nini’s protests. “Thanks Jess, keep the change,” he grins at her.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” she repeats her question from earlier, beginning to doubt their arrangement once again. Ricky comes out from his side of the booth to sit next to Nini, pulling her in for a hug, kissing her temple quickly, “Baby, I want you to be happy and safe. Not feeling the need to be hiding around school because of some stupid guy.”

Nini nods, allowing what he said to sink in. Getting out of their booth, Ricky grabs Nini’s hand, pulls her over to their friends who’ve been watching them. They had turned away quickly once they saw the pair leave the booth, pretending that they hadn’t just seen their intimate moment. The pair bid them farewell, with the promise that they will see them on Monday.

Holding Nini’s hand until they got to the car, he opens the door for her, pulling her into a hug, “I meant what I said,” looking down at her, “I’m your best friend and will do anything for you, even something as silly as this” causing the both of them to laugh. Letting her get in and closing the door behind her, he gets in the driver seat to drive them home.

\--

A blaring sound echoes around the room, Nini’s hand quickly shoots out from under her sheets to turn off her annoying alarm. Monday, she realizes. Pulling herself out of bed, knowing that today’s the day that her and Ricky will be officially dating, at least that’s what the rest of the student body will think.

Walking over to her closet, she decided to dress a little nicer today, donning a white dress stopping right above the knee, and a cropped denim jacket. Only wearing minimal makeup, slight concealer and mascara.

Ricky texted her he’ll be there soon, quickly heading downstairs, grabbing 2 blueberry muffins and her backpack. Hearing a loud honk come from outside, she bid farewell to her moms, pulling on her converse and rushing out the door.

She pulls the passenger door open, handing Ricky one of the muffins, as he handed her coffee over, part of their morning routine. “Ready?” he asks, Nini nodding in response. As they head off to school, they didn’t talk all that much, just listening to whatever was playing from Ricky’s Spotify, as she munched on her muffin.

When they pulled into a parking spot at school, Nini couldn’t help but feel her heart beating out her chest. She started scratching at her palms, one of her nervous ticks. Ricky puts his hand on top of both of hers, looking at her and she knew exactly what he wasn’t saying. Knowing her well enough that she doesn’t need words, just his support.

Nini sighs, getting out of the car, Ricky comes around and grabs her hand. Shouldn’t be too difficult, they do this all the time, the only difference is that they aren’t in the privacy of their own homes. Tightening her grip on his hand, letting Ricky drag her towards the main doors.

They parted ways going to their respective lockers, with Ricky promising to meet her at her locker after. When Nini had arrived at her locker, Carlos and Gina were already there talking amicably, greeting the pair. Carlos is the first to speak, “so, you know it’s Monday, right?” he asks smiling at her. Gina nodding alongside him.

Nini sighs, knowing this was going to happen, putting her backpack inside her locker, she answers, “We’ll talk about it at lunch, I want everyone to be there.” She says sharply, not wanting to deal without Ricky. Carlos and Gina sigh exchanging knowing looks, expecting the response, but was still hoping to still have some kind of clue. Accepting her answer, Gina started talking about her dance class and complaining about one of this new student who seems to think so highly of themselves.

As Nini was pulling out her notebook, she feels a pair of arms snake around her waist, hugging her from behind. About to elbow whoever it was, but saw the familiar pair of hands attached to her waist, realizing it was Ricky she couldn’t help but smile. Whether it be to keep up the act or out of habit, she turns to him, smiling up at him in greeting.

“Morning Carlos, Gina, how was your weekend?” he greets the pair, letting go of Nini putting a little bit of space between them. Their eyes travelling between Ricky and Nini, “Maybe we should be asking you that question?” Gina jokes, with Ricky and Carlos laughing alongside her.

Nini closing her locker, just as the warning bell rings, “Well, we should head to class. We’ll see you guys at lunch,” Nini says, pulling Ricky into the direction of their homeroom class.

“Today’s going to be interesting,” Ricky says, putting his arm around her shoulder.

-

On her way down to the cafeteria she bumps into EJ. He was smiling brightly at her, “Hey Nini, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he starts. Nini froze, unsure of what to do or say, all she can simply do is nod. Gripping her backpack, a little tighter than normal, scared of what the next thing that was going to come out of his mouth.

“Okay, well I was wondering if-” before he could get his question out he was interrupted by a voice screaming from down the hall. “Girl, you fucking get downstairs right now, so help me god. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

 _Kourtney_.

Immediately whipping her head around to face her friend, “Kourtney, will you relax,” she says trying to calm her friend down. Turning back to EJ, “Sorry, seems like I’m needed, I’ll see you later, maybe.” She apologizes, not nearly as sincere as she should be.

EJ’s face falls a little, “it’s okay, it seems important.”

Kourtney finally reaching them from down the hall, grabbing at Nini’s arm and pulling her towards the cafeteria, Nini turns back and gives EJ a small wave, in which he returns. Bringing her attention back to Kourtney who was rambling on about how if they don’t get there sooner, Carlos might just strangle her.

When they finally reached their table with all their friends surrounding Ricky, looking at him like he’s lunch, shooting him a hundred questions per minute. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Nini asks, giving Ricky the space he desperately needed, noting how he physically relaxed when he saw her.

“You are not the one to be asking us the questions here Ms. Nina. Sit down. We need answers, we’ve been patiently and kindly waiting for, for three days!” Carlos sternly says loudly, gesturing wildly, startling some people from the table over.

“Honey, relax. You’re causing a scene.” Seb interjects, putting a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm, not only Carlos, but the rest of the group.

Nini takes a seat next to Ricky, smiling at him, taking in a sharp breath, not ready for the pressing questions they know are about to come. Ricky puts his hand on her knee, squeezing it, a gesture of support.

Once the group calmed down a bit, thanks to Seb, Gina is the first to speak, “Well?” the group looking at them with questioning eyes. Nini looks to Ricky, knowing he’ll be the one to tell their fictional story, to Nini’s surprise Ricky poses a question to the group instead, “Why are you guys going so frantic? It was just a photo.”

“Because you were kissing her Ricky! That’s new!” Big Red exclaims. Nini and Ricky burst into laughter, “That’s not new,” Ricky responds in a fit of laughter, “I mean, I guess it’s new to the public eye I guess.” Ricky continuing in teasing them for the answer that they’ve been waiting for. The group sighing, giving each other looks knowing how each of them are feeling about the difficulty the pair is giving them.

“Okay, well, whether it be old or new or whatever, are you guys dating or not?” Kourtney pipes us, clearly frustrated and wanting a definitive answer.

Nini looks at Ricky, making eye contact, he gave her a slight nod taking a hold of her hand underneath the table. Nini looks at the group, “yeah, we are.” She admits shyly.

There was a chorus of ‘I knew it’ and ‘I told you so’ through the group. Bringing their attention back to them, “how long?” Ashlyn calmly asks.

“About two months,” Ricky answers.

“TWO MONTHS?!” The group basically screams, causing many of the people around them turning to see the big commotion.

“We wanted to make sure it was the real thing before telling people! But I didn’t think anyone would think much of what I posted! It’s so normal for us before we started dating, that I didn’t think people would comment on it.” Nini explains to the group.

The group nodding along to her answer, taking in what she said. “Seb, honey, if that’s what best friends do we’ve been best friends for a while” Carlos jokes, causing the group to erupt in laughter.

Nini and Ricky’s faces going beet red, because unbeknownst to the group, that’s exactly what Ricky and Nini do as just friends. For a long time now. But now they think that they are dating so it’s fine to joke around about. Suddenly Nini got an unsettling feeling in her stomach, she hated lying to them, but both her and Ricky know that this is what’s best for them and their friends. No need for their little secret to slip before the plan even put into action in front of EJ.

The group had asked them a handful questions, most of which about how did it all happened, and they gave the answer that they had prepared for prior. They were a little upset as to not getting the full details, but understood that it was ‘their moment’ and respected their privacy.

“When were you planning on telling us? We, your best friends, had to find out on social media,” Kourtney suddenly asks. Ricky had turned to Nini, not really sure how to answer this question. Nini shrugs, “To be completely honest, I don’t know,” looking at Ricky, “Love, we never talked about that part.”

“I’m only realizing now baby,” he laughs a little nervously, the pair hoping their friends don’t think too much into that detail they hadn’t thought to cover.

The rest of the group watching their interaction carefully, and looking at each other when they heard the nicknames they have for one another. Thinking it was really cute and sweet, and suits them very much.

As the warning bell for class rang through the cafeteria, most of the group parted ways, Ricky offering to walk Nini to her next class. She had her arm linked with his as they headed up the stairs, just thinking about the big mess she knows they had just gotten themselves into. Nini had been scratching at her palms again, not realizing the action.

“Hey, everything’s going to be okay.” Ricky pipes up, seeing her scratch at her palms, wanting to try and calm her nerves down a little.

“I’m sure you’re right, but what if you’re not?” Nini questions.

Ricky stops them, and pulls her to the side of the hall, “Baby, look at me,” he says, bringing his hand up to her chin to guide her eyes to look at him, “everything is going to be okay, it will work. And no matter what happens, you’ll always have me.” Nini nods, eyes watering a little, Ricky gently takes a hold of her head bringing her closer to him, kissing her forehead quickly. As he pulls away, he takes a hold of her hand, and pulls her along to class before either of them are late.

-

Nini was heading out the front doors, deciding to wait for Ricky outside rather than looking for him around the school. She was just leaning casually against the wall, scrolling through her Instagram, not getting a chance to do so during lunch.

“Nini! I’m glad I found you!” EJ calls, looking up she sees him approaching her, pushing away from the wall preparing herself for whatever’s about to happen.

“Hi EJ.” She says unenthusiastically, a little tired from her day still wary because she had an inkling of what he was about to ask.

“About earlier, I wanted to ask if you would like t-” EJ starts, but gets interrupted once more.

A pair of arms wrapping around her from behind, “Hey beautiful,” Ricky says kissing the back of her head, going for a different nickname than the usual, “I’ve been looking for you.”

She turns around, forgetting about EJ for a brief second, “Hi love.” She beams up brightly at him, silently thanking him for saving her from whatever EJ was about to ask. Returning her attention back to EJ, “EJ, you remember Ricky, right? My boyfriend.” Nini nearly flinching, realizing that this is the first time she’s called him her ‘boyfriend.’

EJ’s face falls, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t know you guys were dating.” He says sullenly.

“What was your question?” she asks, not really wanting to know the question, but opting to be polite.

“Oh, that, uh, it’s not that important, I should get going, I’ll see you around Nini. Good to see you again Ricky.” He smiles tightly at the pair, heading back in the direction he came from.

Moving his arms from around her waist, and hanging his arm around her shoulder guiding her back to the car. “What were you guys talking about?” he asks curiously.

Getting in the car, buckling up, Ricky starts up the car but doesn’t move to put it into drive just yet, turning to her for an answer. “Well, before I came to lunch, he was going to ask me something, which I’m pretty sure was about a date, but Kourtney found me before he could even ask. And he was going to ask me again until you showed up, thank god you showed up when you did.” She informs him.

“Well, hopefully he backs off now.” Is all Ricky says, his face not saying much, she couldn’t tell if Ricky was joking around, because his voice didn’t convey that. He puts the car into reverse and pulling out of their parking spot.

Nini a little confused, Ricky had sounded standoffish. She couldn’t tell what was going on with him. Nini didn’t say anything until they made it to her front door. Instead of unlocking her door for them to go inside, Nini pulls Ricky to sit on the swinging bench on her porch.

“Ricky, baby,” the nickname he claimed slipping out, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

He wouldn’t look at her, she takes a hold of his hand. “Ricky, we’re lying to everyone we care about, I don’t want us to lie to each other too.”

He takes a in a deep breath, finally looking at Nini, “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just that, last week when you introduced me to EJ, he knew that we were like together, well, kind of. I know we’re not, but I gave him that look, like to back off or whatever. It sounds fucking stupid and childish, I know, but he still tried to ask you out and whatever when he knew…” Ricky admits.

Nini looks at him taken aback from what he just said. She wraps her arms around him in a hug, “Are you jealous?” she asks timidly.

“No!” He shoots back instantly, causing Nini’s arms to fall, “Maybe…I-I don’t know, I know there’s no reason to be, but I can’t help myself.”

Sliding her hand in his, “Just like you said, there’s no reason to be. I’d choose you over EJ, any day. Ricky, before anything you’re my best friend and I don’t want some stupid guy to make you feel jealous.” She says rubbing her thumb against his hand to comfort him.

“I know, I know, he just makes me so angry I guess, because he can’t take a goddamn hint.” He expresses.

“I know baby, how about instead of dwelling over how stupid EJ is, we go to Rosie’s?” Nini offers, knowing that the best thing to do right now is to take his mind off it.

“We just went to Rosie’s” Ricky laughs wholeheartedly, causing his eyes to crinkle, the tension slowly dissipating.

“And your point is?” She laughs alongside him, nudging him with their joined hands.

“You’re right,” Ricky stands, pulling at her hand, helping her up. She lets go to unlock her door, and leave their backpacks inside. Turning back to him, “Of course I’m right love, I’m always right.” She claims smugly.

Ricky bursting into a fit of laughter, swinging an arm around her shoulder, “Whatever you say baby.”

\--

Friday finally has rolled around, Nini excited for the weekend. She was looking forward to the picnic her friends have organized. She was headed to her locker with Ashlyn by her side, aimlessly discussing about the picnic tomorrow. As Nini reached her locker, she was pulling books in and out deciding what to bring home for the weekend.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask, is it alright if I bring my cousin, EJ?” Ashlyn suddenly asks, shocking Nini causing her to nearly drop one of her books.

“No, yeah, that should be fine. Just make sure to let everyone else know, I’ll tell Ricky for you though. I’m sure he’ll be okay with it.” she smiles tightly at Ashlyn.

“Yeah, I’ll send it in the chat now actually,” she says, pulling her phone out, quickly drafting the text and sending it, “how are you and Ricky doing? I know we were all a little, over the top and excited when you first told us.”

Closing her locker, and pulling her bag onto her shoulder, “We’re good, a little weird that everyone knows, but I’m glad you guys do, couldn’t hide it forever, you know?” Nini jokes, bumping shoulders with Ashlyn.

“I’m really happy for you guys. And, to be completely honest, none of us were really surprised it happened.” She admits, causing Nini’s head to snap in her friend’s direction.

“What do you mean?”

Ashlyn giggles, “Oh it’s just the looks and how close you guys are, we kind of just figured it was bound to happen. The big question was really when, we were so close to placing bets.” Nini laughs apprehensively, mustering a nod, not really sure how to respond to what her friend had just admitted. As they opened the front doors to find Ricky, Gina, Big Red and Carlos chattering away.

Greeting the group, as they were talking about Carlos and Gina’s dance class. The pair trying to convince Big Red to join, seeing as he’s secretly been taking tap lessons since he was ten, his parents thought he needed to pick up another hobby aside from video games.

“Hey babe, ready to go?” Ricky turns to her. She nods, not really sure how to act around him anymore after learning what Ashlyn had told her. Bidding the group goodbye, Ricky grabs her hand, pulling her towards the car and waving to their friends once more.

Settling herself in the passenger seat, the conversation she had with Ashlyn replaying over and over in her head. “Love,” she says as he gets into his seat, he hums in acknowledgment, “Ashlyn told me she’s bringing EJ tomorrow.” She informs him warily. Remembering how he had acted the last time they had seen EJ earlier that week.

Ricky groans, throwing his head back quickly, then putting the car into drive, “Just when I thought it was going to be an easy day with friends.”

Nini shrugs, “I know, it shouldn’t be too different. We’ll just try to limit talking to him as much as possible, yeah?”

He shrugs, “I guess, so, Harry Potter tonight?”

\--

Ricky had showed up to Nini’s house around 10 the next morning, the group deciding to meet for 12:30, the pair opting to have a small breakfast until they have to leave. Sitting in the living room with the TV playing an episode of That 70s Show as per Ricky’s request.

“Love,” Nini starts shyly, not really sure of how to ask this question without it being weird. He turns to her realizing the tone of her voice, “Yeah?” he responds cautiously.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she admits, “but, uh, do you think anyone is going to expect us to kiss?” she rushes the question out before she could stop herself. When they started this charade, they hadn’t gone over any kind of ground rules so her question is understandable.

The question causing Ricky to inhale sharply, not expecting the question at all, “I don’t know, why?” he asks, playing it off calmly.

“Well, like, we haven’t hung out with them for longer than a lunch period, and we’ll be spending a good number of hours. Is it weird that we don’t kiss in front of them?” she asks.

He ponders the question, “We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable.”

“I just haven’t kissed anyone since, well…” she trails off, both of them knowing the answer, giving each other knowing looks.

The pair had shared their first kiss together when they were thirteen. Curious as to the big deal around a first kiss, they had decided to just get it over with. They kissed on a bench in a park sometime during the summer. Realizing that kissing wasn’t all that fun, for a thirteen-year-old, they opted not to mention it again.

“How about this, we don’t have to, but if something calls for it then just go for it, but it’s okay not to.” He offers. Nini nods in agreement, thinking it’s a fair enough idea, having little to no expectations from each other.

“I’m going to get ready,” she says standing up, silently asking him to help her decide on an outfit. He follows her, knowing this might take a while.

After a number of different options, that Nini had rejected, Ricky had thought the first one was great, well, all of her outfits she looked great in. Nini had settled on a pair of denim shorts, with a white graphic tee that she had cropped, and throwing on Ricky’s grey zip up.

When she came out from her closet, he takes note on the sweater, “is that mine?” he asks from his spot on her bed. She joins him, “yeah, you leave a lot of sweaters here, I like them a lot more than mine. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, you look better in them than I do” he admits.

“Okay, enough with the jokes, are you ready to go?” she asks. He hums in response, getting out of her bed, helping her up.

Heading downstairs, grabbing a blanket and the snacks they were responsible for, bidding farewell to her moms on their way out. Putting all the stuff in the backseat, Nini notices that he brought his guitar, she questions him about it and he simply just shrugs.

“Can you teach me later?” she asks excitedly.

“Of course, now let’s go before we’re late.”

-

They arrived at the park a little later than they expected, closer to one o’clock, wanting to stop by and grab a cup of coffee. Everyone should be there by now, as Ricky pulls into a parking spot, she turns to him, “Okay, are you ready?”

Knowing she wasn’t asking about getting out of the car, but rather about their whole arrangement. Usually he’s the one asking her this question. He nods, they’ve been doing this for about a week, it shouldn’t be that different.

As they get out of the car, Ricky grabs his guitar and tucks the blanket under one arm, handing Nini the basket of food, so he can take a hold of her other hand. Dragging her along until they saw their friends under one of the big trees. They greeted the bunch, apologizing for being late. Setting the food down on the table alongside with what everyone else had brought.

Big Red was throwing around a Frisbee with Gina, EJ and Kourtney. Nini and Ricky had decided to join, Ashlyn, Carlos and Seb who were chattering away at the table. They were talking about a show that Carlos is really into right now.

Ricky standing up deciding to set up the blanket on the floor underneath the tree that was next to their table, he gestures for Nini to come over as he pulls out his guitar. Nini sits in front of him, so she’s facing him, but he gestures for her to sit in between his legs so he can teach her a few chords. She moves, so her back is to his chest, and bring the guitar closer to her. He placed her fingers on the strings showing her some basic chords.

Causing some of the others attention to drift, watching the interaction between the pair. Ashlyn gesturing to the two she was with so they can join them on the blanket. Along with the rest of the group that was playing Frisbee. Nini and Ricky look up to see their friends watching them, and instantly stop what they’re doing. She looks at Ricky, “Love, you should play something for us.”

The group all nodding in agreement, Ricky complies, “Only if you sing with me” he smiles at her, as she moves aside so he can properly hold the guitar.

“Baby, you’ll know this one.”

He started playing a few chords, “You learned our song?” she recognized, beaming at him.

He smiled at her, as he sang the first verse she was taken back to when they had first heard the song. They were simply scrolling through YouTube one evening a few months back, when the music video of I Believe in You by Michael Buble had caught Nini’s attention. Instantly, she clicked on it, she fell in love with video and the song. She loved the idea of two people meeting at such a young and tender age, it reminded her of the time when she had met Ricky in kindergarten and couldn’t pronounce her name. When the video had come to a close, she was nearly in tears. Ricky had decided to hit play again, pulling Nini off of the couch and dancing along to the song around her living room, bringing so much happiness and laughter to the pair – one of Nini’s favourite moments with him.

When Nini had joined in on the chorus, the pair had gotten up from their seated position and she started dancing around Ricky. Bringing everyone to join in on their silly antics. Nini had grabbed Carlos’s hand swinging him around in the dance moves Ricky normally guides her in whenever their song comes on. Nearing the end of the song, the group was chiming into the song. Nini walks up behind Ricky, hugging him from behind, as he strums the last chord.

He removes the guitar, and pulls Nini into a proper hug, kissing the top of her head. “You learned our song,” she repeats, smiling brightly at him. He hums in response, “yeah, just for you.” He smiles down at her. Suddenly hearing a click, causing the pair to separate as they look over to see Carlos holding a Polaroid camera, snapping a photo of the pair, smiling cheekily at them.

“Carlos, could you take one more for us?” Ricky asks.

Ricky wraps his arms around Nini and pulls her in from behind, her back to his chest as he leans over her shoulder, smiling brightly at the camera. Interlacing her fingers with his, she smiles at the camera just as brightly, as Carlos begins to countdown from 3.

“These photos are going to turn out so good, I just know it.” Carlos exclaims giddily, as he passes over the developing photos.

Ricky tucks the photos in his pocket until they finish developing, walking over to Big Red who is with Ashlyn and EJ at the picnic table. Ashlyn complimenting him on his singing and guitar skills.

“Since when have you and Nini been dating?” EJ asks out of the blue.

Ricky taken aback by the question, “About two months now.”

EJ nods, “well, you’re a lucky guy.”

Ricky looking back at Nini who was gesturing wildly at Kourtney retelling some kind of story, just watching his best friend, smiling at her actions he responds, “I know.”

“So, how’s the water polo team going?” Ricky asks, they talked mostly about school and their hobbies, getting to know each other. And the more they talked, the more Ricky started to like EJ, he was a pretty cool guy, both interested in each other’s hobbies, “do you maybe want to come to one of my skate competitions?” Ricky asked.

“Dude, that would be so cool, of course I’ll come!” he exclaims excitedly.

Nini coming up from behind Ricky, “what are you boys talking about?” curious to the interaction that she was watching from afar.

“Babe, EJ’s coming to my next skate competition.”

“Nini, your boyfriend is the coolest.” EJ says excitedly.

“EJ, do you mind if I steal Ricky for a second?” she asks, EJ shrugging patting Ricky on his shoulder before heading over to see what Ashlyn was up to.

Ricky looked at her with a questioning look, unsure of what she wants to talk about. “Since when we’re you and EJ best buds?” she asks.

“Oh, we were just talking and he’s a pretty cool guy.” He replies.

“Okay, I’m just glad you’re no longer jealous of him.” She jokes, poking at his side, causing him to flinch away. “Shut up” he tells her, while pulling the photos out of his pocket, seeing as they should be fully developed by now.

The photos were cute, “I like this one,” Nini says, pulling the candid photo that Carlos had captured out of his hand, “Can I have this one?” she asks with hopeful eyes.

“Of course.”

EJ ran up to the pair, “Hey Ricky, we’re going to play some more Frisbee, you want in?” he asks. Ricky looks at Nini who tells him to go on, he smiles and squeezes her hand before running off with EJ,

Nini heads over to Seb, Carlos and Ashlyn who’re watching the rest of their friends start a Frisbee game and chattering away.

“Your boyfriends got some talent” Seb compliments, “tell me, why’s it your song?” catching the attention of Carlos and Ashlyn, pausing their conversation to listen in.

Nini blushes, “Oh, it’s nothing special really. When I first saw the music video, it reminded me so much of us. I was basically in tears when I watched it, and he put it on repeat and just danced with me. Nothing too over the top, it’s, us.” Nini tells her story, reminiscing the memory, her gaze going back to Ricky. Her explanation caused the trio to squeal giddily, bringing her attention back to the group.

“Nins! Show us the photo I took, I’m a fantastic photographer just so you know,” he says, complimenting himself in the process. As she pulls the photo out of her pocket to show them, “I know you are, that’s why my screensaver is also a picture you took.” She laughs along with the group as she shows her screensaver to the group as well.

“See, I knew since then, #goals.” Carlos jokes.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly, full of light conversations, games, and music. Keeping Nini’s mind off of what Ashlyn had said to her the other day about her and Ricky, and Carlos complimenting their relationship. She had fun, enjoying the company of all her other friends. The most surprising part of her afternoon was Ricky and EJ becoming best friends, spending most the of the time together talking about anything and everything. When it was time to head out, everyone bid each other farewell with promises to do it all again soon.

\--

A few weeks had passed, and Ricky and Nini were still keeping up their little charade. Their actions slowly becoming second nature, not even having to think about if people are around to see them, but the lines between real and fake were starting to blur.

There was really no reason to be fake dating any longer, EJ has long gotten over Nini, losing interest in her after the picnic. He had come to realize Ricky and Nini were great together, after hanging out with them, slowly becoming part of their friend group. EJ and Ricky becoming best friends, to everyone’s surprise. When Ricky wasn’t with Nini, usually EJ and him had plans. Going to each other’s competitions, Ricky’s skating and EJ’s water polo. EJ also had told Ricky and Big Red about some girl he’s interested in his class.

One afternoon, when Ricky and Nini were doing their homework in her living room, so they could have the weekend free. Ricky suddenly says, “Nini,” causing her head to snap up from her chemistry notes. He hasn’t called her by her actual name in a few weeks, preferring to call her babe or baby.

“Yeah?” she answers warily.

He sighs nervously, “When do we stop this?” he asks.

Confused as to what Ricky was talking about, “stop what? Homework? Cause we can t-“

“That’s not what I meant,” he interrupts, finally finding the courage to look at her, “when do we stop faking it?”

Nini’s breath hitched, not expecting his question. She has thought about how they would end it, and how they would tell their friends, but she didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. Not wanting it to end just yet, despite how selfish it sounds, she realized that she had feelings for Ricky sometime after the picnic, and probably has for a long time.

Ricky continues, when she doesn’t respond, “Because the longer we do this, the harder it’s going to be for me to stop.” He admits, looking away.

His last sentence catching Nini’s attention, she stands up from her position on the floor to sit next to him on the couch facing him. Not really sure how to put it in words, she puts a hand into Ricky’s hair, causing him to look back at her. Without saying anything, Nini leans in, capturing his lips with her own.

He kisses her back, pulling her in closer by her waist. Before they could go any further, Nini pulls away and looks Ricky in the eyes, “Love, I don’t want to stop.”

He smiles brightly at her, “Yeah?” is all he says, Nini nodding, biting her lip before Ricky is leaning back in to kiss her again.

When they finally pulled away, they were both smiling at each other, “when did you know?” she asks him.

Not quite letting go, his arm still around her waist, “During our song, when we danced across the room.” He admits honestly, “That’s when I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but I don’t think I admitted it to myself until the day I got jealous of EJ”

Shocked by his answer, “Really?” not really sure of how to answer, “I think I knew at the concert.”

“When we had our moment,” Ricky smiles down at her, “should we tell our friends?” he asks, remembering them because of their ‘fake’ story.

She shakes her head, “For now, it’s our moment, we’ll tell them eventually.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if I'm proud of it yet, but it's probably because I spent forever writing this lmao


End file.
